Hotel Julian — Hotel in Prague

Hotel Julian

We visited Prague at the end of April 2024. We stayed for three days at the Hotel Julian in the city. This Hotel was a real find. The hotel is attractive, good value for money, and the rooms are comfortable, well-appointed, and spacious. Bathroom toiletries are provided, and we had slippers and fluffy bath robes in our room. The staff are really friendly and helpful and there is no trouble conversing in English.

The hotel provides breakfast though it does not have a restaurant for evening meals. However, this was fine for us and there are various restaurants near the hotel. The breakfast selection was excellent and as good as anything we have found in other hotels. Hot food was available as well as cold collations. Different sorts of bread, pastries, cereals, various fruits, yoghurts, fruit juices, tea and coffee were all provided. Breakfast could be eaten in the breakfast room itself, which is an attractive room, or taken a few steps across the hall to the library room which is also a very pleasant setting. One could also take one’s breakfast selection up to the roof terrace which I will say more about in a minute.

Also included, free of charge, is afternoon tea on the roof terrace. Tea and coffee are available as well as a selection of pastries.

The hotel is conveniently located in the city and although it is on a main road, it was very quiet. It was very close to the river and conveniently situated for using the tram services in the city and also the city bus tours.

A particular attraction was that the hotel could arrange collection from the airport and transfer to the hotel. It was reassuring to have the hotel arrange this for us. Similarly, when we left Prague, we needed to get to the main bus station. The hotel staff were again very helpful in organising a taxi for that trip and confirming to us in advance how much it would cost. The transfer from the airport to the hotel was €35 and the transfer from the hotel to the main bus station was €17. We were able to pay the driver in euros and did not need to use Czech Koruna.

The roof terrace was for us the outstanding feature of this hotel. We had great views across the cityscape and it was lovely to be able to sit up there with our drinks and relax. In fact, you can collect breakfast from the breakfast room and then take it on a tray which the hotel provides up to the roof terrace and enjoy your breakfast there. At other times of the day you could have your lunch or evening meal on the roof terrace if you purchased it from a nearby supermarket or fast food outlet.

We would have no hesitation in recommending this hotel to visitors to Prague, and will certainly stay here on...

Failed the basics, dead lightbulbs in the room, and the shower temperature was absolutely wild. I'd find a useable temperature, then without touching the knob, it'd go absolutely freezing cold, to scalding hot, anywhere in between; out of a 10 minute shower, I'd get ~2 minutes of usable water temperature. I had to point the shower head at the wall, then splash a little water on myself when the temperature was useable. Bathroom fan was also useless, so the room was always dank and musty till we opened the window.

Wi-Fi was useless, so I burnt through the mobile data on my tourist eSIM. Even the smart TV in the room couldn't stay connected to the Wi-Fi.

It's European style beds, so it's two single beds stuck together, with just a thin sheet on top of the two single mattresses, which made cuddling uncomfortable. Also two separate duvets (pros and cons to that).

Housekeeping reset the room weirdly, and differently each day, sometimes folding each individual duvet in half, laid sideways, at the foot of each bed, sometimes stretched out all the way across the foot of the two beds, one duvet on top of the other, with this silly decorative blanket on top. They pushed the bathroom trash can all the way back into a useless corner, where we'd have to crawl under the bathroom sink to use it, so we had to reach all the way under and pull it forward every day. Minibar fridge was super loud, had to unplug it again every night.

The breakfast was okay, better than continental, but it was the same food for ~3 days in a row before they'd change some of it.

The front desk staff were helpful and easy to work with. One of the front desk staff spoke quite loudly, so we heard her voice echo up the stairs at 6am some days, even through my ear plugs.

The location was good, quiet enough neighbourhood, with a tram station just around the corner that was on quite a few different routes. It was a massive contributor to quality of life, the ability to walk 2 minutes, hop on a tram, and be anywhere we wanted to go within 20 minutes. I could hear the odd rumble of a tram through my ear plugs, but it was surprisingly not a problem considering how close we were to the tracks.

The nearest couple bars were smelly and gross, so we had to walk a few blocks to find a place.

We'll find a different place the next time...

Having never visited Prague before, I had no expectations. It was almost a pity once we'd arrived at the airport that it was around midnight and we couldn't see too much, during the taxi journey. Once we reached the city and the street lights made a difference, it was fascinating. Old cobbled streets mixed with ex. Eastern European blocks that had seemingly been painted. And churches for miles. Hotel Julian, it turns out, is right next to where the 'Pink Tank' used to be (there's a fountain there now) and is in a fairly typical block, very close to a very useful tram and bus stop - 3 or 4 stops into the centre of town, which is great, but can also be walked, easily! The inside of Hotel Julian is very comfortable and quirky. Nice lighting and a quiet vibe. As we were checking in, the very helpful Ivana, asked if fancied a nightcap? Even though it was approaching 1 am, it was a welcome idea! We sat in the lounge area supped our drinks and discussed our journey and what we would be doing over the next few days. Hotel Julian is very clean and to use a well worn phrase, well appointed. Our room had a huge window with and enormous heavyweight curtain that blocked all light and sound out. The bed was pretty big and very comfortable. There was plenty of storage space for clothes and a safe. The bathroom was very clean and the shower was great! The room was tidied every day, during our 4 day stay. Breakfast was huge and endless, with every variation - cereals, bread, fruit, salad, meats, cheeses, and lots of coffee. There was no restriction on how much we could feed ourselves. All of the staff were great and happy to help with our rubbish attempts at speaking Czechoslovakian. A great deal of people we met and spoke with spoke English. The only down side was at around 6 am on a couple of mornings, the group on the floor above us, started moving around and I'm sure put their biggest boots on which resonated through to us downstairs. It's a great hotel, stay...